While directing a Returning Officer to accept a nomination submitted by a candidate, the Kerala High Court has held that a candidate is not disqualified from contesting an election under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Rules on the ground that he proposed the nomination of another candidate in the same constituency.

The petitioner approached the High Court after his nomination was rejected.

The Single Bench of Justice K.Babu stated, “There are no indications in the relevant Rules that disqualifies a candidate from contesting an election on the ground that he proposed the nomination of another candidate in the same constituency. There is also no indication that a person who proposes or seconds nomination of another person would become disqualified from contesting the election.”

Advocate P.V.Baby represented the Petitioner while Advocate Kavery S Thampi represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The petitioner is a member of the APCOS Employees Co-operative Society which is affiliated to the Circle Co-operative Union, Neyattinkara (second respondent). The petitioner filed a nomination to contest the election from Constituency B2 in the prescribed form. M. Satheeshkumar (Member No. 138) proposed the petitioner’s nomination, and another member seconded it. After scrutiny, the list of candidates was published, wherein the names of the petitioner and M.Satheeshkumar were absent. It was the case of the petitioner that his nomination was illegally rejected by the . He thus sought a direction to the third respondent to accept the same.

Reasoning

The Bench referred to Kerala Co-operative Societies Rules dealing with the provision for election of members of Circle Co-operative Union. It noted that Sub-rule (4) of Rule 129 mandates that every nomination paper shall be signed by two persons whose names are included in the final voters list. One member shall sign the form as proposer and the other as seconder for the nomination. The nomination paper shall also contain a declaration signed by the candidate proposed for election to the effect that he is wiling to stand for election. The proposer and the seconder shall be voters of the same constituency from which the candidate is proposed for election.

The Bench affirmed that, as per the relevant Rules, a candidate is not disqualified from contesting an election on the ground that he proposed the nomination of another candidate in the same constituency.

“The right to contest in the election is a statutory right of a member of the society which cannot be denied except on the ground of disqualification specifically prescribed in the Statute”, it added. The Bench thus found the rejection of the nomination of the petitioner to be patently illegal and untenable.

The Bench was of the view that the rejection of the nomination paper was patently illegal and untenable, and there was no need to adduce any oral or documentary evidence to substantiate the contention. “Therefore, it is very much within the jurisdiction of this Court to interfere with the illegal rejection of the nomination paper submitted by the petitioner”, it said while allowing the Petition.

Cause Title: R. Suresh Babu v. State Co-operative Election Commission (Neutral Citation: 2025:KER:68991)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocates P.V. Baby, Vineeth P. Baby

Respondent:Advocate Kavery S Thampi

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Kerala HCJustice K Babu

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.